7 Ways to Get Reliable News Online - DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 11/17/2016

Hey all, thanks for reading! This is the weekly newsletter companion to Daily Tech News Show at http://dailytechnewsshow.com/ 

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This week I take a deeper look at how to make sure you're only reading the best news. But first, this week's Biggest Stories-- in case you missed it: 

Microsoft announced Wednesday that it is joining the Linux Foundation as a Platinum member. Let that sink in long-time followers of Microsoft's war against Linux. But don't forget that these days Microsoft is one of the biggest open source contributors, building BASH into Windows, bringing SQL Server to Linux, opening core parts of .NET and partnering with Red Hat and SUSE. Microsoft also contributes to Node.js, the Open Container Initiative and Open API among others. John Gossman, of Microsoft's Azure team, will join the Linux Foundation Board of Directors. https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/16/microsoft-joins-the-linux-foundation/ 

Google and Facebook announced policy changes to discourage the spread of false news. Google said that it will restrict ad serving on sites that "misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information about the publisher, the publisher’s content, or the primary purpose of the web property." Facebook clarified its ban on displaying ads in sites that contain deceptive and misleading content includes fake news. http://fortune.com/2016/11/15/facebook-google-policy-ads-fake-news/ 

Twitter updated its policy Tuesday to allow anyone to report abusive content for removal. Previously only the target of abusive content could report it. It also promises its support team will deal with reports more quickly and sensitively. Twitter also introduced Mute Words, an expanded mute function that can mute notifications of any post containing a keyword. You can also drop out notifications of long threads that you are at replied in but no longer interested in following. https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/15/twitter-updates-abuse-policy/ 

Both Houses of Parliament have passed the UK Investigatory Powers Bill and submitted it for royal assent. Among other things the bill allows police and intelligence agencies to obtain a warrant to access computers, networks. mobile devices and servers and copy data. A warrant for bulk data collection can be obtained for those not living in the UK. The Investigatory Powers Commissioner (IPC) and judicial commissioners (part 8, chapter 1 of the IP Bill) will be appointed by the Prime Minister. And Internet Connection Records, mostly metadata, must be stored on all customers for 12 months. http://www.wired.co.uk/article/ip-bill-law-details-passed 

Russia's communications regulator, Ros-kom-nad-zor, ordered public access to LinkedIn be blocked Thursday in compliance with a court ruling. LinkedIn was found to violate a Russian law requiring data on Russians to be stored on Russian servers. Rostelcom says it has already blocked the site. MTS and Vimpelcom said they will comply within 24 hours. LinkedIn requested a meeting to discuss the issue and Ros-kom-nad-zor is waiting for approval from the foreign ministry to do so. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-linkedin-idUSKBN13C0RN 

Samsung has agreed to buy Harman International for $8 billion. Harman makes connected car and audio systems. Consumers may be most familiar with its Harman/Kardan and JBL line of audio products but it also makes embedded systems and telematics for cars. It counts BMW, Volkswagen and Toyota among its clients. President and Chief Strategy Officer at Samsung Young Sohn said Samung will not get into the business of manufacturing cars.   http://www.reuters.com/article/us-harman-intl-ind-samsung-elec-idUSKBN1390O9? 

Attackers accessed more than 412 million user accounts at Friend Finder Network, including 339 million accounts at AdultFriendFinder.com and 15 million deleted accounts. 62 million accounts from Cams.com and 7 million from Penthouse.com were also accessed. The attack occurred near the time a local inclusion flaw on AdultFriendFinder was disclosed. The company was attacked last year exposing more than 4 million accounts, although that breach exposed sexual preference choices, while this latest one does not. However. passwords were exposed in plaintext or scrambled with the weak SHA-1 hash function. http://www.zdnet.com/article/adultfriendfinder-network-hack-exposes-secrets-of-412-million-users/ 

HTC opened preorders Friday for about $220 peripheral that makes the Vive VR headset wireless. The device was made by TPCAST as part of the Vive X program. The battery lasts 1.5 hours though a bigger battery is planned that would be carried in a bag or pocket. Orders were taken from the Chinese website for 1499 yuan but available to anyone willing to pay shipping. https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/10/220-htc-vive-wireless-add-on/ 

Nvidia reported its largest quarterly revenue growth in more than six years. Revenue rose 53.6% to $2 billion in Q3 beating expectations of $1.69 billion. Revenue from GPUs made up 85% of total revenue. Revenue from its data center business which powers Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Alibaba, nearly tripled to $240 million. Automotive, which is still small but counts Tesla as a customer rose 60.8% to $127 million. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nvidia-results-idUSKBN1352OR 

CLOSER LOOK - IDENTIFYING GOOD NEWS SOURCES

Patrick and I talked about ways you can not be fooled by fake news or even be misinformed but less than reliable news sources. As promised here are 7 things you can do to consume reliable news.

1. Are you familiar with the source? If this is an outlet you know and trust it's more likely to be accurate. Don't immediately believe everything from blogineverheardofbefore.com.

2. Of course just because it's new doesn't mean it's a bad source. So look for signs. Is it owned by a familiar organization? It might be believable.Does it cover itself in clickbait ads? Then maybe not. Do it's other stories look like the kinds of things you'd expect from a reasonable source?

3. No matter what if the story is important, look for other outlets reporting the same thing. If a claim seems hard to believe OR alternatively too good to be true. It might be. Find out if other news sources also report the same thing. The more you find the betetr you can rely on it.

4. And no matter how many outlets report it, where are the getting their information? What's the source? Is there an actual press release? Did an executive make a statement at a conference? Can you watch the video to hear it yourself? Or is it "sources say" If so how many sources? And what's the track record of that news outlet on anonymous sourced stories? Also if it was shared from someone, what's that person's agenda?

5. Don't fall for headline culture! Read the whole story. Ask questions! Sometimes an exaggerated story will also make other claims that you may already know are not true. Does it fudge things or dismiss valid objections without solid backing? That would make me shy away from relying on that source of news.

6. Diversify your sources. Don't get all your news from Facebook OR an RSS reader. Look around a bit. 

7. Follow up. If a story believes that something may be true keep an eye out for confirmation, don't just accept it as done.

Granted none of us have time to do all these things for every story we read! So that's why it's important to cultivate reliable sites you can go to verify. 

Of course it's my job to do that for tech news, and some of you requested to see my RSS feeds that I've cultivated.

Here you go! Hope they help some. Be sure to mix and match and add to it yourself!

Tom's Feedly link

http://feedly.com/tommerritt 

OPML of Tom's RSS Feeds

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6qz5dneub8qca8x/feedly-7adedb67-2ebd-4e98-8b77-a374d6aa1836-2016-11-16.opml?dl=0